Beyond the Binge reflects on episodes from a full season perspective. It is not intended to be spoiler-heavy, but there will be some spoilers throughout. Previously: Off The Hook.

I can’t even begin to explain how much fun it has been to write these up and dig deep into Arrested Development with you guys. I didn’t think it would take me until August to complete, but it has been completely worth it as it was a labor of love.

I think we all know where things stand going into Blockheads so I’m not going to give it too much of an intro other than to say I hope everyone has gotten more out of the season thanks to these in-depth looks and I’ll see you back here for Season 5, or a movie, or both. In the meantime remember to Love Each Other, although I’m still not really sure what the hell that means.

George Michael has a picture of Rebel in a kilt with the goat in his room. Because who wouldn’t?

George Michael whispers “24” as part of his ability to keep perfect time when the narrator say “it was after second 23.”

One dorm vote is cast for Bender from Futurama when George Michael is voted out of hist dorm as a nod to when he lost the Student Council election and 1% of votes were for Bart Simpson.

GOB is wearing a The Ladies’ No. 1 Detective Agency TV series t-shirt, which according to well-informed audience member gregplaysdrums who saw Mitch Hurwitz speak recently in LA:

“A scene was planned with GOB and the Marc Cherry entourage, where they were sitting around watching HBO on a TV. One of them said, ‘Hey, this show on HBO is just like us! It should have been about us!’ And then it would be shown that they were watching The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.

“That scene didn’t make it into the show (obviously), but in episode 15, you can still see GOB wearing a No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency t-shirt.”

Michael Cera really became an annoying and punchable person after the original AD run, so I watched with great pleasure as his character really devolved into a Bluthian jackass but without the comedy of any of the others. I’m curious to see what they do with the punch more than anything else. Michael deserved it because I think he knew his son was seeing Rebel (“We both met her at a photo booth”) although whether or not he actually went there to continue seeing her might be up for debate. But George Michael didn’t deserve to throw it because he’s willfully blinding himself and fighting for something that isn’t there.

I’ve been re-watching season 1 as well, I’m sure you can say Michael did or didn’t remember GM dating Rebel but I don’t think it matters. I was a believer in Michael being a good person, but its apparent that his relationship with GM kept his Bluthier tendencies from ruining him like the rest. So I think Michael, like a Bluth, didn’t really care and was caught in the lie and couldn’t think of another lie.

Season 5, movie interlude, comic series that comes next will work on repairing the GM-Michael relationship. Which will probably need to happen in the first half hour of the movie or first 3 episodes of season 5 and then they can keep each other in check while bringing the family back together. Just like Ron said it’s a father-son relationship.

Also the CIA is totally watching Imagine and will the be the next lite treason committing company that Michael works for

Believe me I’m not saying it absolves Michael by any means, maybe just makes him seem slightly less scummy. One of the major themes of S4 is that Michael (and really GM too) is a Bluth deep down but his single dad side masked a lot of it in the first three seasons.

My theory is he didn’t remember the discovery because of the FMN but the photo booth was in his subconscious hence why he couldn’t think of anything else to add to explain. Murky, I know. More details definitely needed.